BBC ON THIS DAY | 21 | 1966: Coal tip buries children in Aberfan About This Site | Text Only 1966: Coal tip buries children in Aberfan More than 130 people, mainly children, have been buried by a coal slag heap at Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. At least 85 children have been confirmed dead after the tip engulfed a school, some terraced cottages and a farm in just five minutes. Many more are missing or injured. A generation of children has been wiped out Minister of State for Wales At first the rescue was held up by fog, the same fog that delayed 50 children travelling to the Aberfan school by bus from the neighbouring village of Mount Pleasant. About 2,000 rescuers are now working under floodlights in the hunt for survivors, despite the danger caused by the still shifting slag tip. The tragedy happened at 0915, just as the pupils of Pantglas Junior School were about to embark on their first lessons. Some children were still in the playground, others were filing in to classrooms ready for register.

Dilys Pope, aged 10, said, "We heard a noise and we saw stuff flying about. The desks were falling over and the children were shouting and screaming." In one classroom 14 bodies were found and outside mothers struggled deep in mud, clamouring to find their children. Many were led away weeping. The deputy head teacher, Mr Beynon, was found dead. "He was clutching five children in his arms as if he had been protecting them," said a rescuer. Three people died in the farm hit by the disaster and a pregnant woman whose son was killed in the tragedy went into labour when she heard the tragic news. Trapped As people arrived at the scene, they could hear the cries of those still trapped on the fringe of the coal waste. One of the biggest problems facing the rescue operation was getting vehicles to the site which is located in a cul-de sac. Many local miners shovelled to get the debris clear and worked non-stop for 10 hours, including one whose young daughter was thought to be dead. George Thomas, Minister of State for Wales, said: "A generation of children has been wiped out.

There is an abundance of tips of this sort in Wales, and we shall be looking for the possibilities that it could happen again." 1000+ images about Aberfan Mining Disaster on Pinterest | In pictures, On friday and Suddenly Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Aberfan Mining Disaster 78 Pins916 Followers On 21 October 1966 a tip of coal slurry slid down over the village of Aberfan, burying the local school. 144 were confirmed dead, 116 of them children. Within seconds, a whole generation of children was wiped out. A tribunal opened on 29 November 1966 and its report of August 1967 held the National Coal Board accountable for the tragedy. BBC ON THIS DAY | 21 | 1966: Aberfan - a generation wiped out About This Site | Text Only 1966: Aberfan - a generation wiped out It took just five minutes for the coal tip above Aberfan to slide down the mountain and engulf a farm, several houses and a school.

Pupils at Pantglas Junior School were just beginning their first lessons of the day when the rushing landslide of mud and debris flooded into their classrooms. Some children were able to escape, but 116 were killed. Another 28 adults also died. The local community was devastated by the tragedy and the whole country was shocked and saddened when the news hit the headlines. Your memories of Aberfan: I went to Pantglas on that day. I was 13. I will remember always and never forget my friends whom I lost, and how I survived. I still cry. Linda, Australia I was a part-time fireman in Newport. I was called out to go to Aberfan. We were sent to the top of the tip that collapsed to pump out water. I will never forget it the smell - stayed with me for days. Glen, Bush, Wales A day I shall never forget. I was on duty as a telephonist at the Cardiff Telephone Exchange and was taking emergency calls etc. All the telephonists were in tears and the pathos of the calls was unimaginable. Noreen Powell, Wales Remembering the people of Aberfan, my mum's home village.

She was born there in 1909. My auntie used to clean Pantglas Junior school and I used to go there with her when I was a child. I still have a cousin in Aberfan. Vin, UK We had been to Brecon for the day and were driving back home to Merthyr. No radio in the car so we were surprised to see police stopping cars at the top of Cefn Coed to check on our address. They told us about the awful accident and said they were only letting residents into Merthyr. My cousin was a teacher at Pantglas Junior school. We went home and waiting anxiously to hear if she had survived. It was a day or two before we found out that her students' bus was late so she was in the staff room and not her usual classroom. The classroom was completely demolished and she survived but had spent the time helping with the rescue. My aunt was district nurse and was on the frontline of recovery but said she had never experienced such heartbreaking sights in her entire career. We cried a lot and today we've shed another tear. An entire generation wiped out in minutes. So sad.

Gareth Williams, USA I was a 14-year-old living in Tonyrefail some 10 miles from Aberfan. I was in school that day and remember the day well, for I went home lunchtime and a neighbour called me to tell me what had happened. I went back to school and looked down the valley at our local colliery tip, thinking, "How could something like that move"? I will never forget that day. Howard Bartlett, Wales I was a week short of my eighth birthday in Standard One of Tonysguboriau Primary School about 10 or 15 miles down from the valleys. I remember my teacher, Miss Jones, standing in front of the class and saying that children just like us had been killed when the tip slid on to their school. I can remember the silence reverberating through our classroom and I kept thinking, "It could have been us. How can we be sure it wasn't us?" I tried to explain to my eight-year-old what had happened, about how all the valleys were black and that is just how we expected life to be.

He was completely uncomprehending - "How could there be black mountains which collapse on to schools?" Helen, UK That day is one of the earliest memoris I have as a child. I remember being taken from class to a special assembly in the school hall, saying the lords prayer but not really knowing why. Being Welsh has nothing to do with the sorrow I felt and still feel, the sorrow is for those who lost their lives on that day. God bless them all. Chris Morse, Wales I was an 18-year-old apprentice attending Army Apprentice College Chepstow at the time of this catastrophic event. I remember well the request for volunteers by Sgt. Davies Royal Engineers, our group regular Army Sargent in 1966. Everyone in the group volunteered and we set off shortly afterwards in buses prepared to go to Aberfan to do what we could to help. I remember the silence which prevaded the town, interrupted by the noise of truck traffic to and from the site of the tragedy David, Canada The group was organized into shifts. Our directive was to fill sand bags with a slurry of wet coal, the only fill available, and to place the sand bags to try and slow the advance of the coal tip.

The work we were assigned was to help with rescue and recovery. I remember being marched to and from our place of work after each shift, seeing the grim faces of the citizens of Aberfan. I remember the silence which prevaded the town, interrupted by the noise of truck traffic to and from the site of the tragedy. I also remember the kindness shown by the many many volunteers with the Red Cross and the Salvation Army who were also at the scene. David McMaster, Canada I remember that day well. I was in my fourth year at Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School, a school about six miles from Aberfan. At lunchtime one of the lads who went home for lunch, came back laughing saying "Guess what, a school down the valley had been covered in mud." Little did he or any of us know know the consequence of what had happened. Grown men, hard men distraught and tales of limbs being found Alan, UK But during the next few days it started to sink in to the mind of a 14-year-old. When I found out it was Pantglas school - they were always the champion football school in the Merthyr Valley.

Then over the next few days, miners were coming home to my village, Dowlais, in tears - I'd never seen such a sight. Grown men, hard men distraught and tales of limbs being found. One of the lads at school, his father was the headmaster and he died. How Philip coped I don't know, I had no comprehension then. Now it saddens me to think what he must have gone through. Later I'm not sure how long, we drove down the A470 - the old road on the opposite side of the valley - and looking across there was a gaping black hole where there was once a loving school and houses. As I grew older the feelings I had were of the scandal of not doing anything about a tip that was thought to be unstable and how wicked the Labour government was to take money out of the disaster fund, meant for the families of Aberfan. Alan, UK I was only six at the time attending school in Heswall, Cheshire, and I vividly remember our headmaster asking us to send toys for the children left after the terrible disaster.

I still recall handing over a carefully wrapped Matchbox Rolls Royce to that was put into a large pile of toys to be sent. David Hill, Canada I was five when Aberfan happened. I remember that some weeks before the BBC had been into our school and filmed us for a local programme. It wasn't shown until many weeks later as Aberfan happened on the day it was scheduled. More significantly however, I remember this as the day my Mom stopped believing in God. She could not understand how he had allowed so many people and children to die so horribly. Whenever we get a grey foggy day, I think of that time. Ruth, UK I was 14 at the time of the Aberfan disaster. My school was very religious, and I had been trying to decide how much I believed in God. When the disaster struck it was the talk of the school, and in many of the classes we found ourselves discussing it with our teachers. We particularly wanted to know why God would allow so many children to die. The teachers had no answer. I turned away from the idea that there is a God. And that's my view, to this day. John Adams, UK I was 11 when this dreadful thing happened.

We were living in England, but had moved from Tintern in South Wales a few years before, which is where my father and I were born. Although he had never been a miner, my Dad immediately wanted to go and help to try and dig with the other men to try and save some of the children. The authorities asked people not to come in the end as there were more people than could effectly help. Having been brought up in a small Welsh village and gone to the village school, he, and the rest of our family, felt such sympathy with the parents. We knew what it would feel like to lose close friends from a small village school, and so many family members. I don't think this tragedy will fade from the memory of Welsh people for many generations. Sherie, UK My heart goes out to the people of my mum's home village. My auntie was one of the school cleaners and had just gone home that morning not long before the tragedy. Vin Wigmore, UK I was devastated. All I wanted to do - at 13 - was go and help dig. I can still see the reporter (Dimbleby?) crying on TV - this is one occasion where I wish we hadn't got a TV.

It will stay with me forever - I was over 40 before I went to Aberfan to say hi to that lost generation. Andy Stafford, England In October 1966, I was an 11-year-old schoolboy and had left Pantglas School three months previously to attend Quakers Yard Grammar School. During that Friday morning news reached us of the tragedy which was unfolding two miles up the valley. I went to bed wondering if I would wake up again Tony, Wales It was the last day before half term and all lessons were cancelled after we had assembled in the school hall to be told of the disaster. We were asked to stay at school until the end of the day and we just sat outside on the mountain on a sunny autumn day wondering what would face us when we went back to Aberfan. All we could hear were sirens. That evening, a cold dark night, I remember walking down to the village and seeing the utter devastation on people's faces as more and more dead were brought to the chapel. My cousin, a trainee nurse, was faced with the task of cleaning the bodies for identification - she knew almost every one of them... I went to bed wondering if I would wake up again.

I remember it clearly - the day that changed the rest of my life. Although my family lost no-one, my brother and I lost so many of our friends - the people with whom we had shared our childhood. Tony, Wales My home town is Ebbw Vale in South Wales. We heard the terrible news at school. There was an immediate feeling of shock and huge sadness that affected every single person. This feeling transmitted itself across the whole valley like nothing I'd ever experienced before. People cried openly - it had a devastating effect on all the surrounding communities. It had a devastating effect on all the surrounding communities Ann Hart, UK Reading about the tradegy again today, hundreds of miles away in work, instantly took me right back to that day and I'm sat here desperately trying not to cry. What was also shocking to me was that when I went home that day my father was already home and he couldn't stop crying - my dad who very rarely showed his feelings. It's hard to put feelings into words, but just trying has made me feel slightly better. Ann Hart, UK I was 15 at the time of the Aberfan disaster.

During an English lesson at Pontypridd Grammar, we could hear the ambulance bells as they travelled along the main road towards Merthyr Tydfil. I'm not sure whether local mines were also sounding their horns (which usually marked the start of a work shift). News came through of the disaster, and a friend from my village went home early that day. His aunt was one of the teachers who was found beneath a desk, protecting one of her children in class. One of the few books I have ever read was written by a local man who was out walking along the Glamorgan canal when it happened. I have been thinking of Aberfan over the weekend, and am pleased to add my thoughts to this site. Ray Davies, UK I was six years old at the time, and it was my first memory of BBC News. There was a stunned silence in the house, and in other houses as news spread. Just the name "Aberfan" still sends shivers down the spine, even years later. From that moment I was hooked on news, rather than kids cartoons. Steve, Spain I recall as an eight-year-old in primary school being lead in school prayer by our headmaster, Mr Norman Gable, for the lost souls of Aberfan.

In my young life, this was my first brush with tragedy and mortality. Since many of those who died were the same age as I was, I was deeply emotionally touched. I still think of this event today, and for the compassion of Mr. Gamble who brought it home to us. A lesson in life, and death. Ian McClenaghan, Northern Ireland I remember only too well that day. I was living in Swansea at the time. The horror that everybody felt that day was very apparent. Even now, when I hear anything about the Aberfan children, I get a cold shiver down my spine and a great feeling of sadness. Sandra, Scotland I was only just six years old and yet I so clearly remember my mother weeping quietly at the images on our TV, whilst my Father, an ex-army Major who had seen every horror imaginable during WWII, sitting across from her and holding her hand, giving his words of comfort as even he wiped a tear from his eye. It was then that I began to understand that your Mum and Dad can't protect you from everything bad. Now, at 44, I still see that tableau whenever there is news of such a terrible nature.

And I know that as a man there's no shame in shedding a tear. Stuart Dymond, UK 21 October 1966 was my 12th birthday. We lived in Llandough less than 30 miles away. Dad worked for Geest in Barry as a lorry driver. He took the Geest tip truck to Aberfan to help clear the site. I'm sure I was awake all weekend waiting for news of the kids like me and when dad could get home. He was there for days. I am 49 today and my tears still appear on each of my birthdays. I will always remember and say a prayer. Alan Brinkworth, USA I was only six and generally was guarded from the worst of the news in the world. But the grey, gritty images on the TV news could not be hidden from anyone - and my parents didn't try. The desperate looks on the miners' faces as they dug into the floodlit night remain in my memory and still wets the eyes. Graeme Smith, US ex UK I was just six-years-old at the time and remember watching the terrible images on the evening news as people tried desperately to rescue survivors.

It is something that I will never forget. I also remember how some children survived because a quick-thinking teacher told them to protect themselves behind desks as soon as she realised what was happening. Mark Kidger, Tenerife/UK Though I had already been working in London for two years, I was home in Brighton where I always listened to the 1 O'clock News with my mother as we ate our lunch. As the news filtered in, we held hands across the table and I watched the tears trickle down her dear face. I remembered that lunchtime again last year when an insufficiently built school collapsed during an earthquake in Italy, killing tiny children once more. Human carelessness taking innocent human life. Less than two years after Aberfan, mother was gone too, aged only 57, but I never hear reminders of the Aberfan and Garth tragedies without remembering her compassionate tears for the suffering of mothers far away. Angela Sheard, Italy I was just nine-years-old when this terrible accident occurred. I remember hearing the news and my mum holding me really tight and crying, "Those poor children". As a parent myself now, I can understand that feeling.

Terri West, UK I was nine at the time and visiting my family in the Docks Cardiff. When the news came of all the children who died up in the valleys. I think every mother in the Docks came out into Bute street to cry. So many dreams left unfinished. Hadyn, USA I was 11 when I came home from school to find my mother in tears (very unusual). She said a hundred schoolchildren wouldn't be going home to their mothers that day. I remember sitting with her to watch the news, I was so shocked to imagine so many children and teachers dying when they were just at school on a normal day. The tragedy has never left me, and now I write entries for bbc/dna/h2g2 so I wrote one on the Aberfan disaster. I'm very proud of it and I hope it's a fitting memorial. Ann Croft, England I was born and bred in Aberfan and was 20 at the time of the disaster. My brother Melvyn was nine years old and survived. It changed our lives forever and not for the better. I ache for the innocence of life before that terrible day.

Peter Walker, Wales Pyromaniac is jailed for torching Aberfan chapel used as mortuary for children killed in disaster | Daily Mail Online comments Pyromaniac: Daniel Brown, 27, has been jailed for five years for torching a chapel used as a mortuary for 116 children killed in the Aberfan disaster A pyromaniac torched a chapel used as a mortuary for 116 children killed in the Aberfan disaster – destroying a £40,000 church organ donated by the Queen to mark the tragedy. Serial arsonist Daniel Brown, 27, has been jailed for five years after admitting he got a 'kick' from setting fire to the 1876 chapel and watching it burn. In 1966 it was used as a mortuary for the 116 children and 28 adults who lost their lives when a coal tip slid off the mountainside and destroyed the Welsh village's local school. The Aberfan Memorial Garden was later opened by the Queen in 1974 as a tribute to the dozens buried alive in the disaster.

Brown, who admitted setting fire to his own home when he was just nine years old, caused £500,000 worth of damage to the chapel. Lost in the fire was the organ donated by the Queen when she visited the small mining community 10 days after the slag heap collapsed on Pantglas Junior School. Prosecutor Rachel Knight said Brown had first struck elsewhere while walking home from a night out at a village social club. He set fire to a wheelie bin and rang 999 himself - but was 'disappointed' when neighbours put it out before fire crews arrived. Miss Knight said: 'Less than two hours later fire officers were called back to tackle the chapel blaze. 'The chapel was locked but they were approached by Brown, claiming to be the caretaker.' Brown had a set of keys for the chapel because he was a voluntary cleaner. It later emerged he had snuck in to set fire to a dust sheet before walking home. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Miss Knight said: 'The fire was completely out of control.

The roof became well alight and quickly collapsed.' Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard the community was 'furious and despondent with the chapel's demise and that an important part of their history had been destroyed.' Brown told police: 'I don't know why I did it. It just got out of control. I love that church. I set fire to my house in Aberdare when I was nine. I need help.' He made further admissions in a police interview that he got 'a kick' out of seeing the emergency services arrive. Admission: Brown, 27, said he got a 'kick' from setting fire to the 1876 chapel (pictured) and watching it burn Destroyed: Lost in the fire was the £40,000 organ donated by the Queen (pictured), who visited the small mining community just days after the slag heap collapsed on Pant Glas Junior School 'He told the police he was a Christian and attended weekly prayer meetings,' said Ms Knight. Lucy Crowther, defending, said Brown had been visited by Pastor David Pritchard in prison. 'He has given him a huge amount of comfort and forgiveness,' she said.

Brown was also arrested for an unsolved arson attack on a Pounstretcher store in Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil, in 2009. His DNA was found on cigarette butts outside the blaze. I don't know why I did it. It just got out of control. I love that church. I set fire to my house in Aberdare when I was nine. I need help Daniel Brown Brown, of Nixonville, Merthyr Vale, admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and two counts of arson. He was given a 10-year extended sentence for public protection - a five-year custodial sentence and a five-year extended licence. Judge Richard Twomlow said: 'It was a building that was priceless to the community and there was understandable outrage and grief. 'An important part of the history of Aberfan has been irretrievably lost.' A mother whose two children died in the school tragedy welcomed Brown's jail sentence. Iris Minett, 80, said: 'We have been through so much here that it is beyond belief that someone could have done this.

'The chapel meant a lot to many people but now it will never be the same.' Ms Minett lost two of her six children, only son Carl, seven, and 10-year-old Maralyn. Her daughter Gaynor, then eight, was pulled out alive with two broken legs and spent months in hospital. She still lives in the village and describes the burnt-out building as a 'monstrosity'. Brown (left), who admitted setting fire to his own home when he was just nine years old, caused £500,000 worth of damage to the chapel (right). In 1966 it was used as a mortuary for 116 children and 28 adults who died Ablaze: Pictured is the chapel blaze started by Brown after he set fire to a dust sheet before walking home The church leaders were hoping to restore the listed building in time for the 50th anniversary of the tragedy on October 21 this year - but little work has been done in the seven months since the blaze. Ms Minett said: 'Personally I hope they pull it down. It will never be the same and it looks terrible now. 'We always say here that we need to move forward.

I think the same is with the chapel.' Her daughter Gaynor Madgwick said: 'No amount of time in prison will make up for the emotional damage caused by what he did to the chapel. 'Nothing can bring back the pews where those children were laid to rest. It is now a scar on the village and is standing like a monstrosity.' Ms Madgwick said she hopes that Brown can be treated and rehabilitated in prison. She said: 'We believe in being understanding and being able to move forward. 'Personally I hope what is standing of the chapel will now be demolished and a nice memorial bench can be put there. 'It is the 50th anniversary this year. I don't want that standing as another reminder of something that has gone wrong.' 1966 ABERFAN DISASTER: A TRAGEDY THAT SHOCKED THE NATION The children had just finished assembly at Pantglas Junior School in Aberfan on that fateful October 21 morning in 1966. They had sung All Things Bright and Beautiful and were beginning to file back into their classrooms when disaster struck.

At 9.15am, more than 150,000 cubic metres of water-logged debris broke away from Merthyr Vale Colliery waste tip number seven and started to flow down the mountain at speed. Aftermath: Pantglas Junior School was buried up to its roof after a slag heap collapsed and engulfed it killing 116 children and 28 adults during the disaster in 1966 Horror: Rescue workers desperately dig through the mound to get to survivors after the mining disaster Some 120,000 cubic metres came to rest on the lower slopes, but 40,000 carried on and smashed into the village engulfing the school with thick mud and rubble up to 33ft deep. Many of the pupils were buried alive while a farm and 20 terraced houses along the village were destroyed by the surge. Rescue efforts carried on for a week due to delays caused by more debris coming down the mountain.

Paying their respects: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh look towards the landslide during their visit in 1966 after the disaster Royal visit: In 1974 the Queen came back to open the memorial playground at the Aberfan school (pictured) In the end the death toll stood at 116 children aged between seven and 10 and 28 adults, including five Pantglas teachers. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited the village nine days later to pay their respects. And in 1974 the monarch came back to open the memorial playground. Remembering the Aberfan disaster - 45 years ago today - The Landslide Blog - AGU Blogosphere Posted by dr-dave Summary: Today marks the 45 anniverasary of the Aberfan landslide disaster. In this post, Brett Cherry and I review the events of that day and consider the lessons that can be learnt from this the worst landslide disaster in UK history. Remembering Aberfan International Landslide Centre and Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience , Durham University Introduction The story of the Aberfan disaster is seared into the memories of a generation of people in South Wales, and it remains a tragedy of huge proportions.

Today, 45 years on from the disaster, there is much to learn from the events leading up to, and that occurred on, the day. In this article, we seek to explain the events that occurred in Aberfan on 21st October 1966, to review why the disaster occurred, and to examine the aftermath. Finally, we briefly examine the legacy that this disaster has left in many spheres of life. Story of the Aberfan disaster Prior to the disaster, Aberfan was just another small, Welsh coal mining village, located in the valleys of South Wales. Essentially the reason for the existence of the village lay in coal mining – it was founded shortly after the first excavations for the Merthyr Vale colliery in 1869. The village was formed primarily of a close knit community of miners and their families, but was sufficiently large to be able to sustain both a primary and a secondary school. Pictures from the post-War period show that the hills above the village were dominated by a series of enormous spoil heaps. Dealing with the waste is a perennial problem in coal mining, which often generates large volumes of dirty material that has little economic use.

In South Wales, as elsewhere, it was common to pile the waste close to the mine workings – in the case of Aberfan on the slopes above the village. Mining at Aberfan started in 1869; initially the waste was dumped in tips on the slope adjacent to the mine. However, as the volume of material increased, new tips were built on the slopes higher up the hiollside. By 1969, seven tips had been constructed. Tip 7, from which the disastrous landslide developed, was started in 1958, and reached a height of about 40 metres. It contained about 230,000 m3 of waste. The material was transported to the tip on trams that were hauled up an incline by a series of motors, before the waste was dumped on the tip by a crane. The Commission of Enquiry noted that when coal waste tips are concerned, “water is undoubtedly the root cause of most failures”. This was not a new finding – indeed it had been known for at least 40 years – and 45 years on it is still the case.

This area of South Wales has a wet climate (average rainfall is about 1500 mm per year), and the hillsides are marked by lines of springs. The presence of these springs on the hillslopes above was noted on Ordnance Survey maps dating from the late 19th Century. Remarkably, some older tips at Aberfan built on springs or watercourses had previously failed – for example, Tip 4 slipped in 1944, and Tip 5 had a large bulge that was considered to be an indication that it was unstable. Furthermore, just down the valley of Abercynon, a landslide developed in a tip in 1939 that buried a road to a depth of nearly seven metres. And so, the arguments that the events at Aberfan were unprecedented, or could not have been anticipated, cannot be sustained. In the years leading up to the landslide, water from the hillside had been a perennial problem for the people of Aberfan.

Starting in 1949, and possibly earlier, a series of floods had affected the upper part of the town, causing damage and disruption, and leaving a legacy of a “slimy black deposit” in its wake, which was almost certainly mine waste. The people of the town repeatedly wrote to the Council and the National Coal Board asking for this problem to be addressed to no effect; it is ironic that in the aftermath of this disaster this flooding issue was solved through the construction of a simple culvert. The disaster itself occurred on 21st October 1966 at about 9:15 am. The day was calm and sunny at 7:30 am, when the team of men responsible for the dumping of mine waste on Tip 7 arrived for work. At the top of tip 7 they found that it had subsided by about three metres. The team had to send a messenger down to report this information to the mine managers as the telephone was out of action as a result of the repeated theft of the cable. A decision was taken by the mine managers to cease tipping at that location, and an additional team was sent up to move the tipping infrastructure back from the area of active movement.

By the time they reached the top, the subsidence had further developed, with another three metres of movement being reported. The final, catastrophic collapse developed apparently spontaneously as an initially-rotational movement that rapidly transitioned into a flow. About 107,000 cubic metres of material flowed down the hillside and into the village. Descriptions of the event from eye-witnesses bring home the suddenness and catastrophic nature of the landslide. Most witnesses report a noise that sounded like a jet plane passing low over the village; the witnesses also describe a wave of debris, higher than a house, moving fast and demolishing houses “like a pile of dominoes”. The landslide behaved like a liquid, but with twice the density of water, sufficient to demolish everything in its path. Some victims who escaped the main flow were struck and injured by flying debris. By the time the landslide stopped, it had demolished Pantglas Junior School and 18 houses, and had seriously damaged the secondary school and many more houses. A total of 144 people were killed, including 116 children.

Of these, 109 children, mostly aged between seven and ten years old, were killed in the primary school, together with five of their teachers. It is a mercy that lessons in the secondary school did not start until 9:30, meaning that many of those children were still walking towards the building at the time of the landslide. The eye-witnesses report that when the landslide stopped there was complete silence: for example a local hairdresser who witnessed the landslide reported that “In that silence you couldn’t hear a bird or a child”. Immediately people flooded into the area from far and wide to try to save the victims buried by the landslide, including miners from the colliery. News footage from that day shows numerous pit workers in their colliery helmets digging at the site of the school ( this footage can be seen here – it is extraordinary bur very moving to view ). However, conditions were exceptionally difficult – the landslide mass had drained almost as soon as movement ceased, leaving a dense, cohesive mass that was difficult to excavate. At the school site there was little room to manoeuvre. The last living victim was extracted before 11 am, less than two hours after the landslide.

The aftermath of the disaster Immediately following the disaster a Tribunal was appointed to investigate the events leading up to the disaster at Aberfan. The Tribunal found that the National Coal Board was entirely responsible for failing to act to prevent the disaster. Throughout most of the proceedings of the Tribunal, the National Coal Board sought to deny responsibility, but by the end of the proceedings the report notes that “however belatedly, it was conceded by the National Coal Board that the Aberfan Disaster stemmed from their failure to initiate any policy with respect to the siting, control, inspection and management of tips”. The NCB was found to be at fault by the Tribunal for placing a tip on a site that had not been properly investigated. Evidence brought forward by residents of Aberfan revealed that the spring underneath Tip 7 was far from ‘unknown’ as originally claimed by Chair of the NCB, Lord Alfred Robens.

The worker who reported the first sinking of Tip 7 on the day of the disaster told the judge of the Tribunal, Lord Justice Edmund Davies, that “no one walking on the mountain before Tip 7 was started could fail to see the stream and the spring”, nor did they require any surveying or engineering expertise to see that the site was unsuitable for the tip in the first place. The Tribunal named nine members of the board as being directly responsible for the event, and specified in some detail how their actions led to the catastrophe. However, perhaps surprisingly when seen from the perspective of modern times, no-one was prosecuted for causing the deaths of the 144 people and for the physical and social ruin of the community of Aberfan. According to a 2000 report funded by the ESRC on the government response to the disaster, senior officials of the NCB were not prosecuted because UK governments of the late 1960s and early 1970s “needed their help in the ‘high politics’ of running down the coal industry without provoking a national strike”.

Since the NCB was treated as if it were a government department, making them pay the environmental or direct costs of the disaster was considered to be unwise as it would have increased the governmental deficit, which would then have to be recovered from general taxation. Furthermore, the report suggests that the interests of the people of Aberfan simply did not have any sway over policymakers and according to laws in place at the time relating to corporate negligence, no regulatory offence was committed during the Aberfan Disaster because no miners were killed. After the disaster, a fund was created that attracted donations of £1,750,000 (equivalent to about £30 million today), with money being received in the form of more than 90,000 contributions from over 40 countries. This fund distributed the money in a number of ways, including direct payments to the bereaved, the construction of a memorial, repairs to houses, respite breaks for villagers and the construction of a community centre. However, the fund itself attracted considerable controversy. First, when the fund was created it did not include any representatives from Aberfan itself; subsequently, after protests from the villagers, five places through democratic election were created.

Remarkably, no other members of the disaster fund were elected democratically. Second, in the aftermath of the disaster the NCB and the Treasury refused to accept full liability, and thus to fund the removal of tips that still loomed above the village. Lord Robens claimed that it was too expensive to remove the tips, with an estimated cost of £3 million pounds. In response, the community of Aberfan formed a Tip Removal Committee to actively seek out contractors for estimates to remove the tips. Eventually the tips were removed by the NCB, but using £150,000 that Lord Robens appropriated from the disaster fund. Understandably, this caused long-term resentment in the community. In 1997, this sum (but without interest) was repaid to the fund by the UK government. The Legacy of Aberfan The village of Aberfan continues to be profoundly affected by the disaster in 1966, despite the change in population that accompanied the closure of the colliery. According to a psychiatric study that undertook a follow-up of the disaster in 2003, many people who lived through the Aberfan disaster continue to suffer regular bouts of post-traumatic stress.

However, the majority of survivors refused to participate in the study. In common with observations with large-scale disasters in other locations, soon after the landslide the birth rate of Aberfan and Merthyr Vale increased dramatically, such that by 1972 it has been calculated that more additional children had been born than had been lost in the tragedy. This is a phenomenon known as biosocial regeneration, which is a subconscious response primarily by couples who had not lost a child in the disaster. The Aberfan Disaster also led to detailed studies of the behaviour of mine waste, and in particular of their potential to undergo apparently spontaneous catastrophic collapse. Research into this mechanism continues today, but sadly mine waste failures remain common, especially in less developed countries. For example, in September 2008 a mine waste landslide struck the village of Taoshi in the Shaanxi province of China, killing at least 128 villagers. Of course, in the UK the disaster led to major changes to the ways in which mine wastes are managed, and there has been no repeat of this dreadful accident. Since the accident, coal spoil tips have been treated as engineering structures requiring proper design and maintenance.

A Derelict Land Unit was setup in Cardiff not long after the disaster to restore brownfield land, including former sites of collieries and land used by the coal industry. New ways to dispose of colliery spoils have also been developed. Conclusion The dreadful calamity of the Aberfan landslide disaster remains perhaps the most poignant and memorable disaster in the UK since the Second World War. The combination of a failure of responsibility by the relevant authorities, the dreadful events in the moment of the landslide, the heroic but mostly futile rescue attempts, and the appalling behaviour of some parties in the aftermath of the disaster created an extraordinary mix from which there is much to learn. There are some positive legacies of the disaster, most notably the dramatic improvements to the management of mine wastes, but there is still much to do to ensure that these lessons are learnt internationally.

Mudslide buries school in Wales - Oct 21, 1966 - HISTORY.com Mudslide buries school in Wales Share this: Mudslide buries school in Wales Author Mudslide buries school in Wales URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1966, an avalanche of mud and rocks buries a school in Aberfan, Wales, killing 148 people, mostly young students. The elementary school was located below a hill where a mining operation dumped its waste. Aberfan is a small mining village in the Taff River Valley. A substantial number of the village’s residents worked at the Merthyr Vale Colliery, a coal mine that had been privatized by the National Coal Board in 1947. At the Merthyr Vale mine, 36 tons a day of ash, coal waste and sludge were produced. This was piled up in what was known as a tip. The largest Merthyr Vale tip was nearly 700 feet high at the time of the accident. Down a large hill from this tip sat a small farm and the brick Pant Glas elementary school, as well as some homes.

In the days leading up to October 21, there was heavy rain in the area. Some mine workers noticed cracks in the tip, but nothing was done to investigate further. The morning of October 21 dawned dark and damp; the area was covered by a thick fog. At about 9 a.m., mine workers heard a loud noise and through the fog saw that the immense tip had disappeared. The tip had crashed down the hillside onto the farm, the school and eight homes. Thick black dust enveloped the entire village. The muddy sludge was 45 feet deep outside the school and much of the school itself was buried. There were about 250 people in the school when the avalanche hit and more than half were initially missing. Among those who survived, many had severe injuries. The speed and power of the avalanche had ripped appendages right off of some victims. Parents and rescue workers immediately began to dig through the debris to find the children. The last survivor to be pulled clear was out within the first two hours. The next six days of digging brought out only dead bodies, including those of 116 children. The body of the deputy head teacher was found with the bodies of five children in his arms.

Harold Wilson, Britain’s prime minister, visited the scene and promised an inquiry. After five months of investigation and the deposition of more than 100 witnesses, it was determined that the tip had blocked the natural course of water down the hill. As the water was soaked into the tip, pressure built up inside until it cracked, with devastating results. The site of the disaster later became a park. Related Videos 1000+ images about Coal Mining- A Life Nobody Would Choose or Would They? on Pinterest | Pennsylvania, Welsh and British Forward THE ABERFAN DISASTER The Aberfan disaster was a catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, on 21 October 1966, killing 116 children & 28 adults. It was caused by water in the accumulated rock & shale, which suddenly started to slide downhill in the form of slurry. The strangest thing is that many have precognitive dreams, including one of the little girls, Eryl Mai Jones, who died in Pantglas Junior School. See more

Question: In which small Welsh village were over 100 children killed by a coal mine slag heap in 1966?
Answer: ABERFAN